The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right and just.
It is indeed right and just,
it is our duty and leads to our salvation
to give you thanks always and everywhere,
almighty and merciful God.
How wonderfully you created man
and still more wonderfully remade him.
You do not abandon the sinner,
but seek him out with a Father’s love.
You sent your Son into the world
to destroy death and sin by his Passion
and to restore life and joy by his Resurrection.
You sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts
to make us your children and heirs of your Kingdom.
You constantly renew our spirit
in the sacraments of your redeeming love,
freeing us from slavery to sin
and transforming us
into the likeness of your beloved Son.
Freeing us from slavery to sin
and transforming us
into the likeness of your beloved Son.
We thank you and bless you, O Lord,
for the wonders of your mercy;
and we join with the whole Church
in a new song of praise.
Holy, holy …

The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right and just.
It is right and just.
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Father most holy, through your beloved
Son, Jesus Christ.
your Word through whom
you made all things,
whom you sent as your Saviour
and Redeemer,
incarnate of the Holy Spirit,
and born of the Virgin.
Fulfilling your will
and gaining for you a holy people:
he stretched out his hands
as he endured his passion,
so as to break the bonds of death
and manifest the resurrection.
He stretched out his hands
as he endured his passion,
so as to break the bonds of death
and manifest the resurrection.
And so, with the Angels and all the Saints
we declare your glory
as with one voice we acclaim:
Holy, holy, holy...

O my people, o my people,
what harm have I done you,
what harm have I done you?
How have I offended you:
give me an answer,
how have I offended you?
I led you out of Egypt,
I led you out of Egypt,
yet you, you prepared the cross for me!
O my people…
I led you for forty years in the desert,
I fed you with manna
and led you to the Promised Land,
yet you, you prepared the cross for me!
O my people…
What could I have done for you
that I haven’t done?
To you I sang:
"My beloved vineyard,"
yet you, you became bitter!
Hagios Theós,
Sanctus Deus.
Hagios Íschyros,
Sanctus Fortis.
Hagios Athánatos,
eleison hemâs.
Sanctus Immortalis,
miserere nobis.
O my people…

Like the impulse of rage against the enemy,
like the impulse of love towards the beloved,
so is my impulse towards you,
you, the Immortal One, fullness of the world!
You are the way! How marvellous it is!
You are the way! You are love!
You are the way! You are the path!
You are the way! You are the life!
You are the way! You are the truth!
You are the life!
You gave yourself to me without reservation,
and full of mildness, you diminished your greatness
that I might not tremble at your sight –
you, the Immortal One, fullness of the world!
You are the way…
You became like me, that I might learn to know you:
you took a form like mine, that I might receive you.
You became sin for me,
full of mercy,
that my sins
might not turn me away from you.
You are the way...
God, who created me when I was not,
knew everything that I would do;
So he took pity on me,
and in his mercy
he ordained that I beg him
for his nature.
You are the way…

It was still night when Abraham
was preparing to sacrifice his son;
the two were staring into each other’s eyes
when Isaac said:
”Aqeda, aqeda, aqeda, aqeda!
Aqeda, aqeda, aqeda, aqeda!
Bind me, bind me tight, O my father,
lest in fear I resist,
and your sacrifice be not valid,
and both of us be rejected!
Aqeda, aqeda, aqeda, aqeda!
Bind me, bind me tight,
O my father, lest I resist!
Bind me, bind me tight,
O my father, lest I resist!”
Come, see faith on earth,
come, see faith on earth:
the father who sacrifices his only son,
and the beloved son who offers him his throat!
”Aqeda…

This is my servant, whom I have chosen.
This is my servant, whom I have chosen.
My beloved, in whom my soul takes delight;
my beloved, whom I have chosen.
My Spirit will rest upon him
and he will announce justice to all the nations;
and he will announce justice to all the nations.
He will not raise his voice nor cry out,
no one will hear his voice in the street.
The crushed reed he will not break,
the wavering flame he will not quench,
until he wins the victory for justice,
until he wins the victory for justice.
And in his name, in his name
all the nations will put their hope.
The crushed reed he will not break...

Let him kiss me
with the kisses of his mouth;
your love is sweeter than wine.
Your name is the fragrance of your perfume:
that’s why
the maidens love you.
Take me with you, let us go out:
draw me towards you, let us run!
We shall praise your love more than wine,
how wonderful it is to love you!
Tell me then, beloved of my heart,
where do you lead your flock to pasture,
so that I may not wander as a vagabond
behind other shepherds?
Tell me then, beloved of my heart,
where do you lead your flock to pasture,
so that I may not wander as a vagabond
behind other shepherds?
If you don’t know this,
O loveliest of women,
follow the tracks of my flock
and take your kids to graze
close by the shepherds’ tents.
Take me with you, let us go out…

My beloved is for me
a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
My beloved is for me
the perfume of myrrh,
as he rests on my breast.
My beloved is for me
as a lily among the thistles,
so is my beloved among the maidens.
My beloved is for me
a cluster of henna flowers
among the vines of En-gedi.
How beautiful are you, my love,
how beautiful, how beautiful!
Your eyes are doves,
your eyes are doves.
How beautiful are you, my beloved,
how delightful, how delightful!
Even our bed is verdant.
Even our bed is verdant.
As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my beloved,
my beloved among the young men.
In his shade, for which I longed, I am seated
and sweet is his fruit,
how sweet it is to my taste!
Into the wine cellar he has taken me
and his banner over me is love:
Into the banqueting hall he has led me
and his banner over me is love.
His left arm is under my head
and his right arm embraces me.
I implore you, daughters of Jerusalem,
do not rouse nor wake my beloved,
do not rouse nor wake my beloved.

Come from Lebanon, my bride,
come from Lebanon, come.
You will have for a crown the mountains,
the high crests of Hermon.
You have ravished, ravished my heart,
O my sister, my bride.
Come from Lebanon, my bride,
come from Lebanon, come!
I have searched for the love of my heart,
I searched but I didn’t find it;
I have found the love of my heart,
I’ve embraced him and I’ll not let him go.
I belong to my beloved,
and his whole desire is for me.
Come let us go out into the fields,
let us lodge in the villages.
Let’s go out at dawn to the vineyards,
let us pick the grapes.
I belong to my beloved,
and his whole desire is for me.
I have searched for the love of my heart…
Get up quickly, get up my beloved,
come away my dove.
Winter time has already passed,
the voice of the turtle dove is heard.
The flowers appear again on the earth,
the rain is over and gone.
Get up quickly, get up my beloved,
come away my dove.
I have searched for the love of my heart…
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
love no flood can drown.
To give for it all the wealth of the house
would be to despise it.
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm.
I have searched for the love of my heart…

While I was asleep, my heart was awake,
the voice of my beloved I heard:
"Open to me, my sister,
open to me, my dove,
for my head is wet with dew,
my locks with the drops of the night."
He put his hand through the latch of the door,
my heart stirred within me.
I arose, running,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
the purest myrrh from my fingers
onto the bolt of the door.
I implore you, daughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved,
tell him I’m dying of love.
I opened to my beloved
but he was not there, he had already gone.
My soul fainted at his flight.
I sought him, but I did not find him,
I called him, I called him, but he did not answer.
The watchmen met me
going the rounds of the city,
they undressed me, they beat me,
the watchmen of the walls.
I implore you, daughters of Jerusalem …
Ay! If you were my brother,
I could kiss you,
without anyone being scandalised.
I implore you daughters of Jerusalem…

You who dwell in the gardens,
where my companions are listening,
let me hear your voice,
let me hear your voice.
Flee, my beloved,
like a gazelle,
like a young stag,
on the sweet scented mountains.
I am in his eyes
as one who has found peace,
my vineyard is here in front of me,
my vineyard is here in front of me,
Flee, my beloved,
like a gazelle,
like a young stag,
on the sweet scented mountains.
You who dwell in the gardens…
The Church through Baptism has been introduced into the gardens of the Kingdom "where the
companions are listening."
There, as she has been made mother and teacher of all nations because of the experience of
love she has received and because of the suffering, the joys, the failures, the recoveries and – we
could say – because of the history of salvation that the Song of Songs expresses, the Church is
invited by the Bridegroom to let her voice be heard in a final yearning.
The Church answers with an eschatological paschal cry: what she has come to know and
experienced of the Bridegroom makes her desire to flee with him in a final exodus "to the sweet
scented mountains," which is Heaven, forever free.

Who is she rising from the desert,
who is she rising from the desert,
leaning on her beloved, on her beloved,
leaning on her beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you,
there where your mother conceived you,
there where your mother gave birth to you,
there where your mother gave birth to you.
Who is she rising from the desert,
who is she rising from the desert,
leaning on her beloved, on her beloved,
leaning on her beloved?
Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a tattoo upon your arm,
because love is as strong as death,
a flame coming from the Lord,
and the waters cannot quench it.
To give all the wealth
of the house for love,
would be to despise it.
Who is she rising from the desert,
who is she rising from the desert,
leaning on her beloved, on her beloved,
leaning on her beloved?

The voice of my beloved: Behold! Here he comes,
leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle,
like a young deer,
my beloved is like a gazelle.
Behold! He stands behind our wall
and looks in at the window, he peers through the lattice.
Now my beloved speaks and says to me:
"Arise, my beloved!
Arise my love, arise and come!"
"Arise, my beloved,
Arise my love, arise and come!"
Look, winter has already passed,
the rains are over, they have gone away,
the flowers have appeared on the earth,
the time for singing has come again
and the voice of the turtle dove has returned,
the fig-tree has blossomed with first fruits
and the grape vine gives off its scent.
"Arise, my beloved…
O my dove in the cleft of the rock,
in the hiding places of the cliffs,
let me hear your voice,
let me hear your voice.
Chase away the foxes, the little foxes
who spoil the vineyard.
For our vineyard is in blossom!
For our vineyard is in blossom!
My beloved is for me,
and I am for him.
Before the breeze blows
and the shadows of death grow longer,
return, return, return!
Return, return, return!

Upon a dark night,
ablaze with love, with urgent longings,
O happy chance! –
I left without being noticed,
my house at last completely quiet.
In darkness, and secure,
by the secret ladder, in disguise,
O happy chance! –
in darkness and concealed,
my house at last completely quiet.
On this blessed night,
in secret and not seen by anyone,
I beheld nothing
with any other light or guide
but for that which in my heart was burning.
And this was guiding me,
more surely than the light of noon,
to where he was awaiting me –
he whom I knew so well –
and no one, no one else was there.
O night that was my guide!
O night more lovely than the dawn's first light!
O night that united
the Lover with his beloved,
the beloved in her Lover transformed.
Upon a dark night…
O night that was my guide…

You are beautiful, my beloved, like Tirzah,
as beautiful as Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, Jerusalem.
How beautiful are your feet in their sandals,
daughter of princes!
The curve of your hips,
the work of the hands of an artist;
your navel is like a rounded bowl;
your neck, like a tower of ivory;
your eyes, like the pools of Heshbon;
your head crowns you like Mount Carmel;
your hair is as dark as purple;
a king is held captive in your tresses.
You are beautiful, my beloved, like Tirzah,
as beautiful as Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, Jerusalem.
Who is she who rises like the dawn,
as beautiful as the moon, resplendent like the sun?
How beautiful you are, O my love,
how beautiful, my delight,
as beautiful as Jerusalem, as beautiful as Jerusalem.
You are beautiful, my beloved, like Tirzah,
as beautiful as Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, Jerusalem.
Ay! Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

You stole my heart,
you stole my heart,
my sister, my bride,
you stole, you stole, my heart.
How beautiful your loves,
how beautiful your loves!
The fragrance of your perfumes
more than all the balsams of love.
Honey flows from your lips,
my bride, my sister,
honey and milk are under your tongue.
The fragrance of your garments
is the fragrance of Lebanon;
my sister, my bride,
tastier than wine are your loves.
A garden enclosed are you, sister of mine,
a sealed fountain, bride of mine!
Your fruits a paradise of pomegranates,
of nard and saffron, of myrrh and aloes
Awake wind, rise Auster, and come!
Blow in my garden
that it may release its scents,
and my beloved may enter my garden
and delight in its exquisite fruits.
I have already entered my garden,
my bride,
I have eaten my honey in its comb,
I have drunk my wine and my milk.
Friends, come! Drink, O my dear ones,
and get drunk!
You stole my heart…